The Clinton Global Initiative is truly impressive. It's grown to about three thousand attendees and I'm sure it could be much bigger if they wishes it to be. As it is, the crowd now is overwhelming. Yet they don't just talk about what can be done. They often put in motion the action steps that are needed to change things.
I had my own case of dejavu today when someone sent me the link to the conversation that took place onstage at the CGI yesterday. It was Hillary being interviewed by her daughter Chelsea. (To round things out, Bill Clinton introduced the session to the audience. And he mentioned his son in law as well, so it was a big family love-in.)
In 2000, I interviewed Hillary in the satellite program called MainEvent that my company produced. It was a global program, produced in television studios in New York, London and Los Angeles and it was in New York where my televised conversation with Hillary took place. She was running for the U.S. Senate that year, but our conversation was not about politics. It was about the need for more women in leadership roles and how that was going to take place.
I recall vividly asking Hillary what her dreams were for Chelsea and whether she would take a leadership role in whatever she did. Her remarks reflected a loving Mom's desires that her daughter lead a happy and productive life and they lent a decidedly human aspect to Hillary's profile, which at that time was considered hard-edged by some, divisive by many.
That was over ten years ago and in the interim, Chelsea Clinton has become a serious professional in her own right and is married. Hillary ran for nomination by the Democrats as their candidate for President of the United States, and is now our Nation's formidable Secretary of State. Who would have predicted all this?
I found the conversation between Chelsea and her Mom fascinating. It brought back fond memories of our amazing global program. I like to think that the kind of conversations we enabled back then helped in some small way to prepare our world for seeing more women--like Hillary and like Chelsea--take their rightful place in leadership roles around the world.
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
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